Bipartisan Crude Oil Exports Bill Passes House

Washington, D.C. – Today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 702 – legislation that would lift the ban on U.S. crude oil exports – with bipartisan support by a final vote of 261 – 159.

“The bipartisan result of today’s vote to remove the outdated U.S. crude oil export ban demonstrates that policymakers from across the ideological spectrum agree that removing barriers to U.S competitiveness and trade is good policy,” said George Baker, executive director of Producers for American Crude Oil Exports (PACE). “The vote also demonstrates the momentum building to remove the crude oil export ban and widespread recognition that changing this policy will help grow our economy, reduce prices at the pump, create and protect jobs, enhance our national security and reduce our trade deficit.”

In careful study of this issue over the last year, multiple U.S. government agencies, including the Energy Information Administration, Government Accountability Office, and Congressional Budget Office, have determined that allowing U.S. crude oil exports would provide economic benefits for U.S. consumers by lowering gasoline prices. This research is supported by more than a dozen independent studies that show how lifting the ban on crude oil exports would improve employment, GDP growth, and our balance of trade, while reducing gasoline and other fuel prices, and providing geopolitical and national security benefits.

“This is a vote to level the playing field for U.S. workers and businesses who should be allowed to compete against foreign crude oil suppliers, like Iran and Russia, and become an alternative and stable source of oil supply to our allies and trading partners around the world. On behalf of PACE and its members I would like to thank Representatives Joe Barton and Henry Cuellar for their courage and vision of how to make America strong in the 21st century and for their bipartisan leadership on this issue.”